Wanted to thank everyone who has been keeping up with their garden over the last week or two, and special thanks to Chris F. for making and taking harvests last week.

It appears that tomatoes are in full swing, and squash (primarily due to the health of the plants) are in decline. There is plenty more to look forward to — as were seeing a second flourishing from plants, particularly beans. Have not seen as many cucumbers as I would have liked, but hopefully there’s still a chance for more as there are many flowering plants.

Before I left, I spent time trimming along the outer fence. The open area seemed like the weeds were encroaching on some areas, but still manageable. That’s not the case any longer as I’ve been out the last two days. The weeds have grown rapidly, in fact making it hard to determine what’s a vegetable and what’s not. In areas where we got newspaper and/or grass clippings down, things are not as bad. However there are a number of beds where the plants haven’t been staked or they have toppled over or overgrown outside the bed. While it may not be possible to use a mower, I’d like to have someone volunteer to do some trimming inside the garden area with the trimmer in the shed — perhaps a new face, someone who perhaps has not had time to come out lately.

We all need to pitch in to get things back on track. Understanding we have our Backpack Event this weekend (and we’ll be dropping Tim off at college), I would like to schedule a workday for Sunday August 27th after church service. Until then my focus will be in open area.

Since the last update we have donated an additional 160 lbs. of produce!

We’ve had a lot of rain recently, so it’s nice to see a sunny weekend! Hope everyone has had a chance to enjoy the outdoors.

Last harvest had about a dozen summer squash. When I came to Trinity this morning, they were having a debate about what to make for the day. They thought they had more squash. In I walk with a box of yellow squash. They said their prayers were answered – this was exactly what they needed and just in time. One of the excited preparers in the kitchen even gave me a hug!

The garden has been doing well, lots and lots of healthy looking plants. So far, things are coming in slowly, possibly due to the volume of rain. The weeds are somewhat at bay. Places where we put newspaper down has worked well. The upside is that there are many tomatoes that will be ready soon — good news!

78 lbs. so far.
I’ll continue to make donations this week. However, Jaimee and I will be out of town August 6th-13th, if someone could please harvest and take to one of our food banks, that would be greatly appreciated. Trinity Soup Kitchen is closed the week of Musikfest, so it would need to be New Bethany or Second Harvest.

We had a very productive workday on Saturday. Rich was able to get a small tiller from Carolyn M. We trimmed the weeds down and Rich tilled the area for the potatoes. We dug four trenches in long rows and Chris F. planted. The new picnic table in place, and looks terrific. We are so blessed to have such generous donors. I really encourage you to stop by and take a look if you haven’t already. Blueberry bushes are struggling a bit, however I believe with a little TLC they improve! The raised beds and the rest of the garden is looking amazing. Our canine garden ambassador Weasley gave us some great companionship while we did our work!

The areas where we put the newspaper or clippings down, in between rows has really paid off. I think at least for now we are winning the war on the weeds. We must remain vigilant though!

The first produce is starting, with lots more on the way very soon. We have also made our first harvest:

The first Box of about 7 lbs., I will donate tomorrow. Mainly radishes, but a few green peppers and zucchini.

Just a quick update — Things are looking good at the garden. Many of us have planted and the last several rains should be helping our plants grow!!

In other news we ordered 10 blueberry bushes from Dimeo Farms, located in Hammonton NJ. This is considered by some to be the “Blueberry Capital of the World.” We have done the prep work, and received the plants, which are now in the garden along the fence. We will keep an eye on them! Thanks to everyone involved in this great work. Sue K., Rich C. & Chris C, and Lisa V. for putting this place on our radar way back.

Looking forward to seeing our plants grow, and hopefully the return of some sun soon!

Just wanted to say thanks for the great teamwork yesterday on continued clean up and planting. So proud of the job everyone has done. Everything is looking amazing, we have to keep the momentum going! We planted a variety of squash, potatoes, and the sweet potatoes Sue planted last week. We also planted a number of tomato and pepper plants. We now have the benefit of a nice rain to perk things up. Thanks to Sue we are in the process of getting a number of blueberry bushes which will make another great addition to the raspberry and strawberries.

It was also great to have a visit from Bob Cullen. He has been a great supporter and friend of the garden, and for that I am truly thankful. One piece of advice he offered us in better weed control. That is creating two layers of newspaper which is in plentiful supply to lay down around our plants and any areas where we want to prevent weeds. Then we would add a layer of mulch or straw on top. This has the potential to do a better job than the weed block we put down, and has the added benefit of being able to be tilled in the soil at the beginning of the next season as it will naturally decompose.

Also – I have a small number of tomato and pepper plants left, if anyone would like some please send an Email to me or the group.

In other news — Last week we recycled approximately 100 lbs. of batteries and dozens of fluorescent bulbs. These batteries and bulbs have been kept from landfills. Currently battery waste is generated at a rate of about 20,000 – 30,000 tons per year, while we are only recycling about 1,000 tons. It takes about 50 times the energy a battery provides to manufacture it. Consider using rechargeable batteries wherever possible.

On Saturday Rich and I completed the tilling of the open area. So far over the last 4 weeks we moved from box building to replacing soil/compost and finally rototilling. At this point most of the preparation work for us is behind us, but it’s really the beginning of routine stuff like weeding and trimming, with the exception of closing off the fence for the season. We need to put the post back in so we can secure the perimeter from deer, groundhog and any other of our furry friends from the animal kingdom Over the last few months, Jaimee and I have raised a small batch of tomato and pepper plants to share. It will be time to plant in the next week or so, as the threat of frost is now diminishing. Please let me know if you want any and when we could arrange to get them to you.

Giving everyone off for Mother’s day weekend and the Saturday breakfast, I’m proposing the next workday be May 21st from 10:30AM-?. We can begin planting.

In the mean time I need a few people to volunteer for the following tasks, which can be completed on or before the workday.

1. Raking — We need a few people willing to rake some of the weeds and roots that we tilled over out of the garden (2-3 people).
2. Weeding — Hand weed strawberry area. Chris F. started this, but it is tedious work, we need some extra help. (2 people).
3. Fence Closing – Drive fence post back into ground, re-connect and close fencing.
Mowing & Trimming (1-2 people). We will need to fix or replace the lawn mowers. I believe Rich brought his from home last time.
Stay tuned for more information!

I wanted to thank everyone that was able to make it out over the last two work dates. We had a nice turn out on both weekends. I really appreciate your hard work. We’ve been able to get quite a head start on the season. We’ve been able to rebuild 5 of our raised beds, which was our goal! A new patch of strawberries have been planted! Tremendous work! We have also been turn the soil and replenish the beds with some fresh mushroom compost. This should make a considerable difference in our yield this season. Sunday was really special as we had a visit from the Hurysz family! It was really great to see them! Andy said next visit we will let him know so he won’t be in his “work” clothes!

Our next workday will be on April 29th, from about 10AM until about noon. We are looking to get the grass mowed one way or another (!!) and trim around the fence. We’ll also want to spread the remaining compost throughout the open area. Originally, Rich was going to get a tiller for this date, but will push it back until May 6th – by then we ought to have the compost spread. Another small group of us should be able to finish these tasks.

Stay tuned for more exciting news.

I will post a few pictures on the Garden Website from the last work day:

The event is May 20th between 8:30AM and 2:00PM. It’s very easy to do, in fact in most cases you do not need to get out of your vehicle.

Kindly consider getting rid of some of your hazardous waste in responsible way rather than just discarding in your trash which ultimately ends up in a landfill.

Second, if you live in Hanover Township, Northampton County, the Hanover Township Community Center will be having an even to recycle your unwanted electronics. This may include desktop and laptop computers, printers, fax machines, calculators and adding machines, ink and toner, cell phones, DVD players. Additionally, televisions, monitors, air conditioners, ranges, and some other items can be recycled for a fee.

Wanted to update everyone with notes from our first meeting last week. Thank you to all in attendance, I think we had a great first meeting.

We welcomed our visitors Ken and Betty W. who are new to the area and may be interested in having a plot with us this season.

After a brief review of the previous season, and the grant we received from the Bethlehem Rotary Club, we discussed that most of those funds would be used for replacing soil and lumber this season. We also discussed that last season we had a bit of a deficit. We agreed to raise the cost of a plot this season to $30.

We talked about focusing on raised beds mostly this summer, and limiting our growing space in the open area to the front half. This would cut down on maintenance, watering, weeding, etc. This would also cut down the amount of rototilling we would need to do. Since we have not had much success with corn, we are going to hold off on growing any this season. Ben M. expressed his interest in growing more kale in that area, Sue K. expressed some interest in growing more potatoes and Rich expressed some interest in growing squash.

Watering was discussed. Mike S. brought up some ideas regarding the use of T connectors as a means to experiment with water pressure and also cut down on the need for one big hose but rather some smaller runs. This could potentially allow two people to water simultaneously, which could cut down on time. We agreed to purchase some new hoses, Keith K. brought up the idea of trying some expandable hoses that shrink down to a manageable size when empty, this would make the hose not so heavy and cumbersome.

We talked about strawberries! Sue K., brought up that our strawberry patch is only supposed to last 3 or 4 years, which may explain why we are having some issues. We decided to purchase new strawberry roots and plant a new patch in a new area, though it may take another year to see fruit. Either we would dig out the current patch or letting it go one more year to see if there is any fruit. In either case there was some enthusiasm for having another strawberry festival.

Another topic was litter in the garden. Chris F. brought up that last season we had lots of trash laying around in the garden area. It is important to remember that everyone needs to take your trash with you when you leave the garden. If you have small children, please remember to pick up after them. There is no excuse for leaving trash at the garden.

Meg K. brought up that the picnic table is in need of repair and that bees started nesting in it. Although, sanding and painting is an option, the wood is starting to rot. We discussed some options for replacing the picnic table. Or first option may be to ask the congregation if there is anyone willing to donate a picnic table. Plastic table versus wooden table was discussed. Our preference would be a wooden table, but due to cost constraints we may have to compromise on a plastic table.

Mike S. talked about some ideas for better distributing tasks and holding sign-ups. Sue K., mentioned sign up genius could potentially work for managing those tasks.

Jason mentioned that the Rodale Institute is holding their cold plant sale for lettuce, broccoli, kale, and herbs on 04/07-04/08 and 10AM-4PM. The organic plant sale will be on 05/12-05/13 10AM-4PM this year.

We discussed two initial work dates. This would be for bed repair and initial garden cleanup. Saturday April 15th at 9:00AM, and Sunday April 23rd at about 10:00AM. Rich discussed the possibility of renting the rototiller on the morning of April 29th.

That about covers everything for this time around. Please Email the group if you have any questions.

We have a good cleanup on Sunday, many of the raised beds have been cleared, and a significant portion of the open area has been cleared. We harvested the last bit of produce we could gather (32 lbs.) which I took to Second Harvest. We had a windfall of peppers and carrots, which was impressive. This brings our total for the season to 657 lbs.

I want to thank everyone involved in this season, as well as those who were able to make it out to the clean-up effort. Ben, Rich and I loaded his truck twice and took much of the garden waste to the recycling center. I really appreciate that effort.

There is still some work to do, but officially we are done for the season. If you have not cleared out your bed, please do so. Anyone willing to put in extra effort to make further progress on clearing out the open area would also be greatly appreciated.